Throwing Swords
by Thefunnyblogger
Summary: Cato and Clove meet one fatefull day and their realtionship has become greater everyday! part one of the Throwing Swords series! A Clato Fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

I remember right before you were picked I looked at you. Your face was pale and fist clenched. You had no idea what to do. Your best friend was picked at the reaping.

We didn't start out friend. I turned 12 I started training to become a Career. It was hard training and I hated it. Some days when it was time to end training, I would just run out of the room as fast as I could. I was never good at sword fighting or throwing a spear. But when they gave me the throwing knife I knew I might be good at it. I met you when I was 14 I threw my knife and I hurt my shoulder. My knife went into someone else target. I was so embarrassed and I had no idea what to do. I remember seeing a boy who used that target for spearing, walk up to the target and grab my knife. I saw him before; I thought he was the scariest guy here. He is a year or so older than me. He walked right over to me and handed me my knife. I was too afraid to make eye contact so I kept my head low. When I went in to reach for the knife my shoulder started to hurt. I tried to life it higher than a few inches but I couldn't. I fell to the ground in pain. That's when I felt your arms around me. That was the last thing I remember before I blacked out.

I woke up in the hospital the next day. I had no idea what was going on. I tried to sit up put the pain was too much to handle. I lay back down and turned my head to the right. I almost had a heart attack when I saw him sitting in the chair looking at me. 'Has he been here all night?' I wonder. He gives me a smile and for the first time ever I heard his voice

"Sorry if I scared you. I just wanted to know if you were ok." He said in a soft voice.

"It's alright. I- I am Clove." I say. I look into his beautiful eyes and see them light up.

"I am Cato" He says with a smile. I can't help but think he is a cutie. "You were out for a while. I didn't know a dislocated shoulder could cause that much pain" He says with a chuckle. I can't help but laugh also. Little did I know that would be the start of a great friendship.


	2. Chapter 2

I spent another day in the hospital before they finally released me. I was so excited to go to the training center again. I really missed my knifes. When I stepped out of the hospital I inhaled the familiar smell of District 2. It was a nice sunny day and the birds were chirping. I walked home for what seemed like hours but probably was only ten minutes. When I arrived home my parents were gone. They were probably drinking like always. I grabbed my bag of knifes and went off to the training center. When I got there I immediately got ready to throw. I haven't thrown in a little bit so I planned to stay longer so I could get use to them again. I threw the first knife and it hit to the right of the target. I tried again and again until I could hit the target perfectly. I looked at the time and it was 6:30. I just realized I haven't eaten today. As I started collecting her knifes I heard a soft low voice.

"Isn't it a little early to be here training after what happened on Tuesday?" Cato says as he steps out the shadows. He smiles and laughs. I laugh too because I know he is right.

"Yea." I say with a smile.

"You've been here all day and never left not, even to eat." He says. "Want to go get something with me?" He asks. I can't help but blush. I quickly look down to hide it. I've never been asked to go anywhere with anyone before.

"That would be amazing" I say as I push a lock of hair out of my face. I look up to see his face light up. I can't help but think this could be one of the best evenings of my life.


	3. Chapter 3

We started walking the two miles to Capital foods. We made it about ten yards before he started talking. "So clove how long have you been throwing knifes?" He asked.

"About two years" I reply without thinking. He smiles. "What are you smiling about" I ask confused.

"I have seen you throwing when you just began. You always missed the target and I could see the tears form in your eyes" He says as his voice drifts off. I blush because I knew it was true. I usually don't cry but when I first began throwing I would miss and it made me so mad and after missing a few I couldn't hold my tears in anymore.

"Yea it was hard at first" I say. "But I got over that quick" I quickly said and then put my head down. I did get over that quick because if I started crying my instructor would hit me. They made it seem like it was part of the training but I knew it wasn't because sometimes they would go too far and I would go home badly bleeding. I wondered if Cato knew about this.

"Yea I know you did." He said. This caught me off guard. "I knew your trainer hit you. It was normal for them to get mad at people and hit you. I have a few scars because of them and I know you do too." My head shot up quickly. 'How did he know' I wondered "I was there the one day when he threw A knife at you. It hit your upper arm and all I remember you were laying on the ground, holding your arm, crying and bleeding. I wanted to help you but my trainer said I shouldn't get into it." He said looking to the ground. I touched my arm where the scar is. I keep it under a bandage because I can't stand looking at it. I remember that day that happened. I started crying because the trainer was screaming at me. My trainer had enough of me and grabbed a knife off the table and threw it at me. I moved out of the way but not enough. The knife flew through my flesh and I could feel the blood gush out. I didn't see my trainer after that and I never cried for years after that. I felt the tears swell up in my eyes. I put my head down and watched them fall on the ground. I think Cato saw them too because I then felt his arms wrap around me.


	4. Chapter 4

As he embraces me the tears keep streaming. I rest my head on his chest. We just stand there for a few minutes. Speechless. His body was warm and very muscular. "Clove it is ok." I hear him whisper. This made me cry more. Because I knew soon this moment would be over. I felt his hand move to my bandages on my arm. I feel him tense up as he removes it. I had no idea what he was doing. After he got the bandage off he started feeling the scar. He breathed in deeply and his embrace got tighter. I then felt something wet land on my head. I look up slowly to find that his eyes are closed and he is crying. This broke my heart because he is a career. The one's who usually win the game. I had no idea why he was crying but I was too scared to ask. After a few more minutes of the embrace he lets go. He dries his tears and smiles. I am completely speechless and he puts his hand on my back and we start walking. I also dry my tears. He finally breaks the silence.

"Sorry about that." he says "Just the thought of you crying and bleeding on the floor. It breaks me inside." He says. The pain in his voice is so clear. We continue walking like nothing ever happened. I put my hand on my arm and remember Cato taking it off. I run my fingers over the scar and cringe. I barley look at the scar anymore but I know it's still deep. "So Clove do you ever plan on becoming a career?" He asked.

"I am not sure. Maybe if I had too." I say. I have never really thought of it. "Are you going to be?" I ask.

"I haven't decided yet. It is also up to my trainer." He says. I flinch at the word trainer because of what happened to my arm. I always wondered out of the beatings I have got how many has Cato seen.

"This might sound weird but how many times have you seen me be hit by my trainer?  
I ask. This catches him off guard. He takes a moment to think.

"Well maybe around four times." He says. "The knife incident was the most traumatic one for the both of us." He says. I can't help smiling because it was true. "The other ones were more I looked over and saw him hit you or kick you. I heard there was another big one but I never saw it." This is true. Other than the knife incident there was this one time he slammed me agents the wall and beat me up really badly. I went home that night barley able to see. The blood in my eyes blinded me.

"Yea there was a pretty bad one." I say. "What about your scars? What made you get them?" I ask. He cracks a smile and I knew right then he was about to share something deep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well because of sword fighting and mouthing off to my trainer I have a scar on my right side." He says as he points where it is. I clench my fist because I remember that day. I looked over because I heard yelling. I saw a man screaming at Cato. I didn't know what was going on but I then saw you guys started battling it out. I saw the trainer get really mad and slice your side. You never cried out you just fell. Then the peacekeepers brought you to the hospital. "It hurt really badly and I lost a lot of blood." He says. "I was in the hospital for almost a week. That was my longest time in there." "What was your longest time in the hospital?" he asks. I take a moment to think.

"I think it was three weeks." I say. He gives me a confused look. "It wasn't during training." I say. This was true it wasn't during training. It was when my parents came home in a drunken rage and beat me. I broke a lot of bones and I was also bleeding profusely. They never apologized for it because I don't think they really care about me. They care about my older brother Nicolas. He is a peacekeeper in district 11. I am glad I never see him though because he is just like my parents abusive and mean.

"Did your parents hit you ever?" He asks. I nearly let out a gasp. I didn't know if I should answer honestly or not. "I am sorry I was just wondering because sometimes you would go to training with bruises I didn't see you get here." My mind flashes back to one time when my father came home drunk as usual and started screaming at me for no reason. He grabbed me and slammed me agents the wall. When I was younger I would start crying until he let me go. Now I don't struggle or cry I just stare into his eyes until he gets over it. But this time I decided to fight back. As he was screaming at me I grabbed a knife out of my bag and held it to him. He stopped yelling at me and stared at the knife. Unsure of what to do. He threw something on the ground and that distracted me for just a second. In the second he hit the knife out of my hand and wrapped his hands around my neck. I must have blacked out because I don't remember what happened next.

"Yea once or twice. Nothing to bad just a slap once or awhile" I say. Cato must have known it was a lie because before I could register what was happening he had his arm on my shoulder pulling down my shirt to reveal the scar that my father left me. I looked up at him in surprise and shock. He just looks at me with no emotion in his face. "How did you know?" I ask about to slap his hand away. He just looks at me.

"I have seen your father yelling at you a few years back. I just knew it would someday turn into hitting." He says slowly. I feel his grip tighten on my shoulder and the pain sets into my body. "Clove. I am here if you need anything."He says. This feels weird because we barely knew each other yet I feel like I've known him for my entire life.


	6. Chapter 6

As he is holding onto my shoulder I remember how I got the scar. My parents both in a drunken rage came after me with a vase. I don't remember everything but I remember I didn't cry and it left a weird bruise looking scar on my shoulder. It hurts when squeezed like what Cato is doing now. He isn't letting go. I really have no idea what to do. "How did you know about these?" I ask coldly

"When we hugged and I was taking of your bandage your shirt slipped down a little and I saw this." He said. He finally removes his hand and we kept walking. The rest of the night was one of the best nights of my life. He walked me home after dinner and we hugged once more before saying goodnight. I couldn't sleep at all that night. When it was finally time to go to the training center I couldn't wait. I ran most of the way there and when I finally got there I got all ready to throw I felt someone wrap their arms around me from behind and lift me up. They spun me around and put me back on the ground. I turned around to find Cato smiling. I can't help but smile too. He walks back to his target and starts training. I heard footsteps behind me and as I turn around I get a knee to the side. I know today we are training for hand to hand combat. I try kicking her in the face but I miss and a slap on the face. She then grabs me and takes me down. We roll around for a bit and somehow she ends up underneath me. She tries to get out but I am too strong for her. She declares this one I win. And as I stand up she kicks me down. It was enough to knock the wind out of me and force me on my knees.

"Never turn your back on your enemy." She says as she helps me up. I snicker at her and she just laughs. "So I want to give you some advice."She says. I stiffen up because I don't know what it is going to be about "Be careful who you trust" she says in a whisper. I back away from her. Does she mean Cato? I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I don't know what do to. I grab a knife.

"What do you mean by that?" I scream. She looks me dead in the eyes and says.

"What do you think I mean?" She asks. "Cato?" that is where I lose it. I lunged at her with the knife. She easily moves out of the way. She knocks the knife to the ground and grabs me and puts me in a chokehold. I claw at her to let go but she won't. So I give up and let her choke me. "No I don't mean him Clove I meant anyone in the arena. Because who knows when they will turn on you." She whispers in my ear. She then lets me go and I fall to the floor. Gasping for air. I feel her foot bash into my back and everything goes black.


	7. Chapter 7

I wake up in a haze. I hear voices yelling my name. I start opening my eyes. It's all fuzzy at first but it gets clearer in no time. I am lying on the ground. Cato is over me trying to get me to wake up. My trainer is standing over me. I can't tell but I think she is smiling. As is open my eyes I see the familiar sight of the training room. I see Cato start smiling because I am awake now. The pain in my body is agonizing but I can't let that show. I try to sit up but my body won't let me.

"Clove it's going to be alright. You just blacked out." Cato says as I feel his hand on mine. He helps me up and in no time I am leaning on him for support. I try to wrap my head around what happened. I look over and I see Cato smiling at me.

"How long was I out?" I ask. He takes a second. Probably deciding if he should tell the truth or not.

"About an hour. I think you needed it though."He says. I try to smile as a roll my neck. It really hurts after that choke hold.

"I think you should go home Clove. Get some rest especially after that" My trainer says. I become full of rage because she caused my pain. I just end up nodding and Cato starts walking me home. About three minutes into the walk he finally lets go of me to see if I can walk on my own. I am still dizzy but I can. My head is throbbing right now and my back is in agonizing pain but I can't let Cato know.

"What happened Clove?" He asks. "I looked over and I saw that you were on the ground. I tried to go over there but my trainer said no at first then when he saw no one was helping you he let me." I can feel the smile come on my face. It does hurt to smile but I don't care at the moment. I am debating if I should tell him the truth.

"All that I really remember is my trainer and I was training. She said something I didn't like I attacked her she choked me and then kicked me." I said carefully. He looks at me. His eyes focus down to my leg. I follow his gaze and look down and to my surprise I find a huge bruise. "I don't know where that is from" I say. I can hear my voice tremble. I look at Cato. His Glare towards my leg hasn't changed.

"Clove you might have to the hospital to get that checked out." He says calmly. I cringe at the thought of the doctors.

"No. It's just a bruise." I say. He looks me in the eyes and we continue walking. We talk the whole way there. When we get to my house I see that someone is home. "Cato will you come inside with me?"I ask.

"Why?" He asks. I think a moment later he understands why. He slowly nods his head. I walk into my house to find my brother home. The air is filled with the smell of booze. Cato wrinkles his nose as we go through the kitchen. Nicolas notices me and immediately starts screaming. "I don't think you should stay here alone tonight" Cato says. I nod my head because with Nicolas home I know it isn't safe.

"Clove come here" I hear Nicolas roar. I walk towards him after I tell Cato to stay. I walk slowly to him. He stands up and raises a hand. I don't flinch, I don't turn away, and I don't do anything but look into his eyes. His hand comes down hard on my face. The taste of blood was all that was in my mouth and I felt blood trickle from my nose. I turned back to him. He just smiled and got close to my face and said. "Remember I am the victor here." I spit blood all over his face and I watched his smile drop. I see his hand rise again. This time I know what was going to happen. He was going to beat me into tomorrow. I close my eyes waiting for it to happen but it never does. I open one eye to find Cato holding him. Cato is very big for his age and very muscular. The fear on my brother's face is amazing. I then see Cato spin him around and watch his fist fly into my brother's face. He is knocked out in one punch. I know he won't remember what happened because he is too drunk. Cato grabs a towel for my nose and then comes close to me.

"Clove come stay with me tonight. Please. I don't want you here with him when he wakes up." Cato says. I nod as we start walking towards Cato's house. I might be in pain but I am the happiest girl alive with Cato.


	8. Chapter 8

He lives a mile or so away from my house. He lives in nice homes by the district square. As we walk I hold the towel to my nose trying to stop the bleeding. We don't talk as much because of the blood in my mouth. "So Cato how old are you?" I ask threw the blood. I spit on the ground to clear my mouth out. Cato just smiles.

"I am 16 how old are you?" he says

"I am 14 turning 15 in a month" I say with a smile. He smiles too. When we finally reach his house we walk in and his mom is there.

"Hello Cato! Who is your friend?" She asks. I was about to answer myself but Cato stops me, probably because of all the blood.

"This is Clove. She trains with me and she got in a little fight during training and her parents are gone for the night so they can't take care of her. So I was wondering if she could stay with us for the night?" he asks. His mom nods her head and move towards the kitchen. Cato walks me up the stairs and to his room. His room smells like him and his walls were filled with posters of past victors. He takes the blood soaked towel from my hands and puts it in the laundry. "So this is my room." He says. I smile because it is amazing to me. He closes the door and sits down on the bed next to me. "How are you feeling?" He asks me.

"I am feeling way better." I say with a smile so he knows I'm not lying. He also smiles so I know he believes me. "I am so glad I met you. Where would I be without you?" I say.

"With that monster you call your brother." He says as I watch his smile fade away. I feel my smile fade too. I don't get how I haven't run away when my parents or brother is home. I should but I always find myself walking into my house expecting different results. But it is always the same. Screaming and being hit. The trainers want me to erase all my emotions but I do that enough at home, the training wants me to be an emotionless monster. The thing is… I already am. I bite my lip to keep from crying. I taste the familiar taste of blood in my mouth. "What would have happened if I didn't come with you?" he asks. I take a moment to think.

"Well he would have hit me again and since I didn't react the first time he would keep on hitting me until I did. But if he and my parents are home it's a bloodbath in my house. It's full of hitting, screaming, and I always end up hurt." I say. He gives me a concerned look. "My brother is never home though. And my parents only come home once or twice a week. It's easy to avoid them." I say with a smile. He doesn't smile back though he is looking at me with cold eyes.

"Why don't you tell the police Clove?" he asks. I have thought of it but I couldn't. What I say next I wish I could take back.

"I can't Cato. What If they were to find out I told. I would end up dead." I say to him. His eyes widen because I know he knows it is true. I don't know what to do. I stand up and start to walk out his bedroom. Before I can make it to his door I feel his hand on mine. I turn around to see Cato on his knees.

"Clove please don't leave." He says softly. "I don't want you to go home with that monster." He moves onto the bed and lies down. He opens his arms and I crawl into them. This happened over two years ago but when I close my eyes and think about this I can't help but think I am finally safe.


	9. Chapter 9

That night with Cato was the best night of my entire life. For once the emotion I was trained to keep in came out. I went home smiling and when my brother was screaming at me about the night before I didn't care. Nicolas finally left to go to work so I know I won't see him for awhile. I felt so much closer to Cato now. I took a shower and got dressed and grabbed my bag of knifes for training. As I walked to the training center all I could think about was Cato. When I got there my trainer looked mad. I knew this could only mean one thing. Knock out battle. We had to do this once every two months to show we have grown. It is where they put two of us in a ring and watch us fight until one of us is out cold. They then assessed our performance. I was right. They lined us up and named off the names of the person we fight. I have Judy. She is 17 and nearly twice the size of me. I am around 5, 3 and she is about 6, 1. She is a perfect candidate for volunteer this year. They put us all into separate rooms with another person. They put me in the same room as Cato which I find perfect.

"You ready for this Clove?"He asks. I nod my head but I know I am not. I am scared to death. I know the only way I can win is with hope.

"I hate this day so much" I say with a groan. "I always end up in pain for the next couple of days" He smiles and laughs. I just roll my eyes at him and smile. We wait in that room for an hour before it's my turn. They tell me the rules and put me in the ring. Judy is already to fight. I hear the bell ring and I see Judy lunge at me. I grab her by the shirt and throw her down. She quickly got up and I felt her fist make contact with my face. I fell to the ground. I got up and we got into a full out fist fight. She grabbed my shirt and threw me to the ground. Before I could get up I felt her foot on my back. I couldn't stop the low grunt of pain that escaped my lips. I looked up to see her foot rise again. This time it came down harder. I let out a cry of pain this time. She kept doing it for what seemed like days. Every time the pain grew and the cries became louder. She stopped stepping on me and she grabbed my hair. She dragged me up to her face and I opened my eyes enough to see the face of a true monster.

"Not so big without your knifes?" She asked with a smile. I smiled back and a confused look came across her face. My fist made contact with her face before she even had time to realize it. I kept hitting her until I knew she was out cold. I stood there over here watching the blood gush out of her injuries. I looked at my hands. They were covered in blood. Her blood. I felt my knees give way and I felt my head hit the ground. My vision was fading when I heard him scream "Clove! Stay awake for me please! It is going to be ok." I knew it was Cato when he kneeled by me. He grabbed my hand and I heard him mumble "please" Before I blacked out completely.


	10. Chapter 10

I wake up in the training center hospital. I try to sit up but the pain is too much. I lie back down and turn my head. No one is in the room. Not even the doctors are here. I am starting to wonder where Cato is. I try to sit up again but the pain is too much. I let out a yelp of pain and lie down. I lay there for a couple minutes before I decide I am going to get up no matter what. I start to get up and I feel the pain set in. I bite my lip to keep from crying out in pain. When I am finally sitting up I swing my legs over and stand up. It's extremely painful but probably worth it in the end. As I start walking the pain becomes unbearable. But I can't show that to anyone. If am going to be a Career I can't. I start walking toward the place where I fought. As I go there I look into a room and I see Judy. She is still out. The guilt starts building up in my heart. I walk by the room and somehow find the way out. I get to the ring and I see Cato just fought. He is being led out of the ring to the place where we were before. When I get to the waiting room I open the door and I look at Cato. His face went into shock as he reached for me. "Clove, why are you out of the hospital?" he asks very concerned.

"I needed to see if you were alright."I say. He smiles a very small smile.

"I was going to go see you if you were alright but I was right after you and my guy was harder than I expected." He says slowly. "They prepped me and then I saw your fight was still going on. You were getting really beat up. When I saw that you won. I was filled with happiness thinking you were going to be ok but then you fell and I knew something was wrong. So I went in there." He said as his voice started to trail off. "I was screaming at you. I was begging you to stay with me then. But you couldn't." He said as he looked away. I was wondering if he was crying. I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned towards me and put his hand on my face. It was warm. We looked into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever. He then leaned forward and I felt his lips press agents mine. I don't know how to react. I close my eyes and kiss back. He kisses harder and I do too. I then feel his arm around my waist. I run my fingers through his hair. This goes on for what seems like a long time before he pulls away. I look at him panting. He smiles and grabs my hand. "I have wanted to do that for so long." He says panting. I look at him with a confused face.

"What do you mean?" I ask. He looks down and laughs

"Ever since the knife incident a year or so ago. I saw you laying on the floor and thought I want to protect her and make sure that never happens again. I was so scared to talk to you though." He says. He is looking down and biting his lip. I can't help but smiling because I knew I felt the same way. He puts his hand on my waist and whispers in my ear. "Will you be mine forever?" I throw my hands around his muscular neck and I lean into kiss him.

"Yes, Yes I would." I say in his ear.


End file.
